About Actors, Storytellers – Ben Kingsley

I heard a wonderful interview on the radio last week, 3/19/11, with the fabulous actor, Sir Ben Kingsley…

This quote stuck with me:

“I think that the role of the actor, perhaps at its simplest and its purest, is one of the tribal storyteller. And that if you were to transport me back maybe 3,000 years, I’d be sitting around the fire at night with the little tribe, reassuring them about their past, hoping that they will sleep through the night and comforting them about their future, and try and build those bridges of empathy, particularly aspects of life that are baffling and frightening.”

Songwriters, actors, writers of all genres, will appreciate this. There’s more to the interview, worth listening to, or reading the comparatively short transcript: